In this Algorithmic Era, brands are now turning to creators, not for one-off tactical collaborations, but for meaningful partnerships that will actually help brands be relevant, on point, and tap into the right cultural moments.
Left to right: Irina Sergeeva, Shenda Loughlane, Katie Ewer, Caitlin Ryan
ALGORITHMS FOR IMPACT
Irina Sergeeva, Digital Marketing Director, Social & Content, dentsu, opened the panel conversation by asking: How do you think it's possible for brands to still reclaim originality and relevance in this sea of sameness?
Shenda Loughlane, Global Brand President for dentsu X: One of the characteristics of the Algorithmic Era is that algorithms are making choices. … Whereas, in the past, we thought about mental availability and we thought about physical availability, we now actually have to think about algorithmic availability and really understand the relationships algorithms play in the choices people make.
Brands have to increasingly think … how do you hack the algorithm? What are the things that you do that are a little bit different, and how do you understand the algorithm really, really well in order to deliver impact for your brand?
Katie Ewer, Global Strategy lead at Meta for creators and creator marketing: Consumers are hacking the algorithm themselves. We see that particularly younger generations are curating their feeds very intentionally, training the algorithm to deliver very personalized hyper-relevant niche content. … [A] big reason why people follow creators now is because of the very niche content they create.
People build culture. So that's where brands need to start.
Katie Ewer, Global Strategy lead at Meta for creators and creator marketing
PEOPLE INTELLIGENCE
Irina: [L]ast year, and the year before, the talk of the town was all about AI. This year we are shifting gears and we're talking more about culture, moments that matter and human experiences and the experiential side of things.
Shenda: We like to describe it as AI and PI. You have artificial intelligence, but you also need people intelligence.
Shenda Loughlane, Global Brand President for dentsu X
CREATORS AS INTERPRETERS
Katie: As brands, how do we create content that is good enough that people want to share it, not [just] good enough that people will tolerate it?
Caitlin Ryan, Creative Partner for Dentsu Creative in the UK: My advice to brands is to start early with creators and be with them for the long term, not just once they're big then jump on the coattails of their success.
Katie: [The] brands that are finding real success with creator marketing strategies are those that are adopting creators as part of their always-on strategies rather than a kind of one-and-done approach.
We're at this inflection point where the industry is realizing that it's not just about using influencers as megaphones for your brand message. It's about using creators as interpreters of your message into the language of the platform, the language of the communities.
Irina Sergeeva, Digital Marketing Director, Social & Content, dentsu
AUTHENTICITY = TRUST
Irina: How do we still make sure that even if some content has been delivered with the help of AI, we still get the trust and it's still very relevant and on point again in terms of reaching the target audiences?
Caitlin: I think there is a very quick and short answer. Just be authentic and I think that consumers, customers, communities will become very familiar with AI being used to generate content.
Left to right: Irina Sergeeva, Shenda Loughlane, Katie Ewer, Caitlin Ryan
This special episode of The Short Story podcast was recorded live during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June 2025. To hear the full conversation filmed beachside in Cannes, watch the video replay here.
